How to Set the default location of your PC on Windows 10

To make your applications more useful and tailored to you, setting your physical location is paramount. You will then be able to receive news of what’s going on around you, be able to find places e.g. restaurants near you among other services. There are several other apps that could use your location information to make your Windows 10 experience better. These include Cortana, Weather, Maps, News and others. Without the correct physical location for these apps, they turn out to be useless and a waste of space.

There has been an error associated with the physical location of Windows PC. Users keep getting a notification message swinging out from the right side of the screen asking them to ‘Set the default location of your PC,’ but when clicked on nothing happens. The message furthermore says, “We’ll use it when we can’t detect your exact location (like right now)!” Further diagnosis shows that the app is using the wrong location for the said PC. The location could be a few miles to hundreds of miles away, thus the information returned by the news, weather and maps apps are irrelevant. This article will delve into the reasons for such an error and how it can be cleared.

Why your computer asks you to ‘Set the default location of your PC’

Most interactive apps need to find your location for them to be useful to you. Phones and some laptops can work this easily because of the GPS that can pinpoint the location to a few metres. There is another way that can be used to find your location, and that is through the IP (internet protocol) pinging. The data can be monitored for the location of the endpoint terminal (your phone or Router). With the use of your Wi-Fi router and the Wi-Fi connections near it, your location can be triangulated to within a few yards.

If you have a cable or DSL provider, at least in the USA, your location will be accurate. If you’re using public Wi-Fi, your location will be accurate. If you use your phone’s hotspot, your location will also be accurate. If you receive your internet service from an ISP (internet Service Provider), then you are likely to be placed in the wrong location. For example, if you use dial-up or satellite internet, it’s going to be a little troublesome, because your ISP doesn’t provide the location service properly. The last location that is sent back is the last building/terminal of your ISP before it reaches you. This could be in another state or even miles away from your correct location. There may be other reasons as well that can lead to the wrong location information.

It was possible to set the default location for apps like maps and weather. Recently, Microsoft upgraded such that you can set the default system location. If the correct address cannot be determined, this location will be used by any app as your current address. This includes apps like news, weather, Cortana, Maps, some windows services and others. To set your default location, follow the steps below.

Setting your default physical location in Windows 10

1. Open Settings app by pressing Windows Key + I. Select Privacy from the available options.
   
2. From the left panel of Privacy Settings window, click on the Location tab.
   
3. Now from the right side pane, scroll down to the ‘Default location section.’ Click on the ‘Set default’ button just below where is says “Windows, apps, and services can use this when we can’t detect a more exact location on this PC”. This will open the Windows Maps app and allow you to set a location as default.
4. After the Map App loads, a prompt will appear on the left asking you to set a default location, click on ‘Set default location’ button.
   
5. A text box should appear with a drop-down menu. It will show your saved and recent places. You can enter a location manually, or you can select any one from the drop-down menu shown. You can also click a location on the displayed map to set it as the default location.
6. By choosing a location, you will have set the default location for your system. No extra confirmations are required

Note that this location will be used as the default location for your apps and Windows services in cases where the exact location cannot be determined. In cases where Windows thinks it can find your exact location, the default will be ignored. To change the default location in the future, open the Windows Map App and click on the ellipsis (three horizontal dots on the top right hand side) to go to the Map Settings. From the Map App settings, click on the ‘change default location’ button under the Default location section and change your default location.